Former pupils from Littleover Community School are to celebrate their 'joint 50th birthdays' in a reunion - but so far they have only found half of the year group.

The class of 1985 are linked by a one-of-a-kind photo - believed to be the first traditional group photo taken in the school's history, in 1983.

Now former pupils are trying to reunite the year group and want to thank the teacher who allowed the photo to be taken.

Former pupil Justin Farnan said: "As with any year group at any school, as time goes by you start to lose touch with all, but the very closest friends.

"As you get older, you start to appreciate the people you knew at school and the shared experiences you had. This photo –which we probably all have somewhere in the attic –has remained an amazing reminder of those times.

Another photo of the Class of '85 pupils (Image: Derby Telegraph)

"So, about two to three years ago a few of us started saying wouldn't it be good to have a joint 50th birthday in our home city of Derby.”

Another former pupil, Dino Gagliardi, said the idea for a reunion quickly gathered pace on social media.

He said: "Many of us had actively kept in touch over the years, so very quickly we had almost half of the whole year on the same group-chat, swapping stories and photos and re-connecting with people they may not have seen for more than 30 years.

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"One thing everyone agreed was what a great idea it would be to meet up as we all headed towards our joint ‘landmark’ birthdays.”

The teacher who organised the photo, Jane Read, will also be present at the gathering which will be held at the Georgian House Hotel in Ashbourne Road on Saturday, March 2, 2019.

Justin said that everyone in the photo would be 50 between September 2018 and August 2019, so they are holding the event in the middle of those months.

Organisers are yet to find more than a hundred pupils from the main photo (Image: Derby Telegraph) Jane said: "It was difficult to convince former head teacher Jack Connor to allow the photo, but afterwards he was pleased with the result.

"However, as far as I know it never happened again. I find that it’s always a pleasure to look back at joyful events and my hope is that many of you will attend the reunion, reminisce, revive friendships and make new ones."

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Another former pupil Lynwen Davison said the day the photo was taken was "a very exciting day".

She said: "It’s our joint 50th but it still sometimes seems like yesterday that we were all 13 or 14."

The organisers of the reunion are looking for anyone who started Littleover Community School (then Littleover Secondary School) in September 1980, sat O-levels and CSEs in May 1985 and A-levels in 1987.

Anyone wanting to know more should get in touch via the Facebook group, Class of '85 -Joint 50th Celebrations Group, or email justinfarnan@yahoo.co.uk